www.Chris-Kutschera.com

OMAN: Police
Academy, Oman Style...

It
is almost cool on the parade ground of the Royal
Oman Police Academy in Nizwa at 6am as a group
of women police cadets march out to join their
male colleagues for drill practice. Dressed
in long blue skirts, white shirts, high heel shoes
and sporting jaunty hats with a black and white
chequered band, the women are put through their
paces with the men. Established in 1980, the Police
Academy aims to graduate one star lieutenants
on completion of a two year course which puts
a heavy emphasis on sport and physical fitness.
This year out of a total of 55 new students,
12 are women. And don’t be fooled by appearances
-- despite their snazzy uniforms, earrings, nail
polish and glamorously kohled eyes, these women
have a grueling training period and some tough
examinations to get through before emerging as
fully fledged law enforcement officers.

Like their male counterparts the women cadets
rise before 4.30am for an hour of sport. Between
5.30 am and 6 o’clock they take their first
break for rest and prayer; between 6am and
7am they are hard at work on the parade ground
before attending practise at the shooting range
where they learn to handle pistols and G3 rifles
with considerable expertise. Gun practise is followed
by various lectures, taking them up to lunch at
12.30 and a rest period until 3pm. During the
afternoon between 3 and 6pm it is back to physical
pursuits such as volley ball and basket ball.

A grueling training period

These
activities are followed by another short break,
the evening prayer and dinner at 7pm. Even now
-- after 15 hours -- the day is not over for the
recruits. After dinner they are expected to study
until 8.30pm when all cadets appear on the parade
ground for the last review. Only when the review
is over -- generally around 9pm -- are they allowed
to return to their rooms to read or chat
a little before lights out at 10pm. Only six and
a half hours later another new day will be beginning
for the cadets.

The recruits live in what many students
would consider to be sumptuous surroundings. Three
or four women share a two bedroomed flat, with
sitting room -- complete with television -- and
a kitchen where they can make a hot drink. In
the privacy of their flat the girls are allowed
freedom to read, watch television and listen to
music.

Staff Sergeant Raya is the officer in charge
of women’s training at the Nizwa aacademy.
She has been a policewoman for 14 years and is
still only 29 years old. For Raya part of
the attraction of police work is the variety it
offers. “I like the job because we are constantly
moving around, not chained to a desk. I was very
young when I joined and lucky that my father --
a merchant -- agreed to my choice of career”.
During the 14 years since she joined the force,
Raya has married and had four children who are
now aged between three and 12 years old.
Every day she leaves the academy at 2pm to return
to her temporary home in Nizwa to take care of
them. However, when the nine months a year she
spends training cadets is over, the family returns
to their “real” home in Muscat where
Raya works in the computer department at Police
headquarters.

Sharifa,
a 17-year-old recruit from Rastaq says she
joined the academy because she enjoys sport, especially
running and swimming but, on completion of her
training period, she hopes to securre an office
job with the police force. Twenty-year-old Saqina,
the daugter of an oil company employee, in common
with all the other trainees said she felt that
as a member of the police force she was helping
Oman. However, she agrees, enjoying sport and
wearing the uniform are also plus points for her.
Saqina, like 17-year-old Sheikha -- who enjoys
most aspects of her work at the academy “except
the company of the boys” -- hopes to get
a job at the airport when her training period
is over.

Altough the dormitories of the male and female
recruits are situated far apart, in all other
respects the women follow their tough training
schedule side by side with the men -- in the cafeteria,
the classroom and on the parade ground. This policy
of equality has clearly paid off for, as a recenbt
visitor to the country observed, “These
are no token police women, they are out on the
streets doing their bit. They are full of self-confidence
and they are treated with respect by the community
-- men and women”. This in itself is no
small achievement in Oman, one of the most traditionalist
societies in the ArabianPeninsula, where only
a a few short years ago women were regarded only
in the domestic roles of mothers, wives and homemakers
and having a career of any kind was unheard of.